Steel-Stubborn Heart
by AgentFiyeroSummers
Summary: As Anti-Mutant propaganda continues to spread Caine Anderson is forced to leave his home and make his way to Charles Xavier's Institute. Forming fast friendships. An even faster crush. And an almost instant rivalry. Caine is forced to set aside his paranoia and his shiny metal exterior by the many teens at the Institute, who despite his wishes, just want to be friends. SLASH
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**AN/: This is another one of the many Dust Spiders I have scurrying around my head, causing general nausea, headaches, constant fatigue and a bad rash… Actually I might have two things**

**Chapter begin.**

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Caine stepped off the stairwell onto his floor nodding at neighbour, an elderly lady with more cats than is completely healthy, as he passed her in the hall. Taking his key off the chain around his neck he reached his door and inserted it into the lock before twisting it, only to hear a loud snap and have it break off in his hand. He sighed leaning forward and rested his forehead against the door, _'Third key this month'_ he mused. Placing the key half in his hand in-between his teeth, he looked over his shoulder and placed his finger and the keyhole, slowly pushing he saw and felt his finger return to its natural state, the liquid metal flowed into the lock latching onto the remainder of the key. Twisting what should be his finger he heard and felt the lock pop open. Pushing the door open he removed his finger pulling the other key half from the end and willed his finger to regain its human form. Carefully closing the door and pulling across the key chain he turned into his apartment, tossing his bag onto the couch he passed he made his way into the kitchen, chucking the other half of the key into his mouth and swallowing them both grimacing at the taste of iron.

He flipped on the TV as he opened the fridge grabbing a bottle of water and an apple, before gracelessly flopping down onto the couch.

'_Dammit'_ he thought listening to some politician ranting on and on about the 'dangers' that Mutants pose _'I guess I'll need to move again, at least six months is a new record for me'_.

The landlord would probably kick him out this week, Caine knew that this was the man's favourite channel, looking down at the patches of skin that shimmered between flesh and metal he once again wished for a less visible mutation. _'Then again being made of some kind of living metal isn't that bad'_ he mused idly _'If the cops show up again to help with the eviction then they're likely to break their hands again, that was hilarious to watch the first time, let alone the next three times they tried to punch me'_. He laughed aloud muttering "Stupid humans" darkly

Deciding to take the initiative Caine stood up with a groan and finished his water, crushing the bottle between his fingers he headed over to the cupboard, opening it and reaching in pulling out his travel bags.

He looked around his spartan apartment, he had travelled light since his family's deaths, making sure that he was able to pack and leave a town quickly.

Grabbing the landline he threw the bags over his shoulder as he moved into the bedroom.

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Waking up to a loud knocking on the door Caine rolled out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweat pants he stumbled to the front door. Blinking rapidly at the onslaught of light upon his eyes he looked down and saw his landlord sneering up at him.

'_His sneer would look more effective if he wasn't so short'_ he thought distractedly as he stepped aside so the shorter man could enter the apartment.

Looking at him with that attempted sneer on his face the landlord started ranting, _'Does he know that he looks constipated when he sneers like that?'_ dashed through his mind.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Caine formed a sneer of disgust on his face his lip curling up. Rising up to his full height he pointed slowly at the man, "I have never missed a payment" he growled dangerously, purposely releasing control over his form shifting his arm into a skeletal metal limb. Noticing the humans eyes instantly drawn to his arm his sneer transformed into a smirk, "I have made each payment on time, and I can prove it" he continued "So admit little _Human_" hatefully spitting out the final word "You are terrified of me, because I'm so much superior than you could ever be" I snarled allowing my eyes to start glowing, my smirk growing as he started whimpering in fear "The news call us dangerous" leaning in towards him lowering my voice to near a whisper "I'm one of the worst there is" I released almost all my control feeling my body shudder as it reverted to its natural state, feeling my wings flex out, I felt my _other_ senses take over as my nose, eyes and ears disappear. Somehow able to see without eyes I watched him squeaked and run past me to the door.

A musical laugh drew my attention to the door, my neighbour was standing there with a huge smile on her face, she stepped into my apartment and closed the door behind her. I walked towards the kitchen, my body rippling as it took its human appearance once more. "Tea?" I asked her as she set her purse down on my now ex-counter, she answered with just a nod still chuckling before saying "I do swear that you get off on being an evil bastard like that, you could never hurt a fly, you're just a kitten".

Caine snorted "I would never hurt a fly" he argued "because flies are too inferior for me to bother with. Besides, you can't have forgotten what I've told you on our story nights" he added with a smirk. Holding out her tea.

With another musical chuckle she waved her hand, which glowed in tandem with the mug, as it floated towards her out stretched hands, "You seem to have forgotten yourself who has the higher kill count" she chided gently.

"I didn't work for the military either" he pointed out, giving a careless shrug she smiled at him "That, my boy, is a very good thing indeed. Otherwise you'll end up like me, an old cat woman living among lesser beings."

They shared a laugh.

She sighed, "Seriously though my boy, you have power, if the military found out about you they would do whatever they had to to get you to join them"

He winced.

"Have you decided where you plan on moving to?" she asked, at his head shake she continued "I have a friend I can send you to, he helped me get out of the military."

He raised an eyebrow "Oh?" he leant forward onto the bench "I wouldn't imagine you would just help me" he said.

In the six months they had known each other they played at life an eye for and eye. She helped him out and he helped her. It was a comfortable life, one that soothed both their paranoia.

It was her turn to wince "I have led a difficult life" she said "But at least people don't leave the room whenever I enter" she sighed and continued on, ignoring the twitch his eye developed suddenly "This is for free, I know you, you don't deserve this life." She reached out, placing a hand on his cheek, feeling the smooth, chilled, almost metallic flesh against her own normal body heat. "This man. This man is one Charles Xavier. A Mutant, a powerful telepath actually. Go to North Salem in New York, 50 miles north of Manhattan, he runs a school called 'Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters' he'll take you in." she smiled sadly.

"A school?" Caine asked sceptically.

"I know that going back to school will cause you a lot of problems, but you're a smart kid, you'll catch up quickly" she said hastily.

He stared at her impassively "I have a photographic memory" he pointed out.

"Then what's the problem" she asked confused.

Rolling his eyes up to the ceiling he said "I've lived alone since I was nine, I don't mix well with people." She shrugged, "I don't see the problem, they're kids, people your age" she said

"That just makes them worse" he argued "Besides, I get twitchy when someone walks past my front door, and being surrounded by teenagers will just drive me insane".

"Insaner" she corrected absent-mindedly "They will learn, after you kill a couple of them they will back off you." She said.

"I get the feeling that this Charlie bloke won't be happy with me killing his students" Caine pointed out.

"Then you will have to adapt, you already have your acting down packed. Controlling your paranoia will be your best option, and will aid you more in the end"

"And this Charlie." Caine asked slowly "He's okay with having a Mutant student?"

The old telekinetic laughed, "Oh Honey, At Xavier's Institute _everyone_ is a Mutant".

She laughed at his slack jawed stare, "At the Institute you could walk around all Metal man and the only stares you get will be of awe." With a smirk spreading across her face she obviously looked him up and down, he shuffled his feet suddenly feeling awkward without a shirt on "Actually, If you walked around like this then you'll get quite a lot of positive attention" laughing as his nervousness made itself known in the form of his torso rippling into metal. "It would do you good" she said patting his hand "You could use a place to feel safe in, a place with true friends. Hell I think you getting yourself a boyfriend would do a world of good for you" she smiled sadly at him ignoring his mumbled protest of "I'm not gay" she finished her tea and floated her mug over into the sink "Well?" she questioned sad mood seemingly gone "Can I call Xavier and tell him to expect you?" she eyed him with a hard glint in her eye.

He looked over at the window, not really seeing it. He turned and placed his mug beside her.

Turning back to face her, he raised his chin defiantly "School?" he said scoffing "I can survive school".

Smirking she nodded and hobbled over to the door, closing it behind her.

Caine continued staring at the door that blocked the view of his first true friend in years. After a minute or two passed he looked down at his hand, currently rippling between flesh and metal.

"School" he whispered "Can I survive it?" he asked himself.

Caine shoved his bags into the compartment under his bikes seat, he closed the lid with a click and tugged lightly on it to ensure it stayed closed. He rolled his shoulders and squared himself, gracefully swinging himself over his bike. He started it up and slowly pulled out of the apartment block's car park, turning himself west towards New York.


	2. Chapter 2

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Caine swerved, skidding his bike to the side of the road, barely ducking up the car that almost took his head off. Looking around in alarm he noticed a man wearing ridiculous armour picking up more cars and throwing them.

He watched in shock as one of the cars headed towards a young petite woman, he scrambled to his feet and lunched forward smashing into the side of the car knocking it off course and away from the woman.

"Thanks!" She shouted before sprinting straight towards the man, I stared in shock as she jumped on him and they both sunk through the road until on his head was visible. The young woman rose up through the tarmac beside him with a cell phone in her hand, flicking through it, muttering "He always falls for that".

"Yeah it's Shadowcat" she said calling someone _'Shadowcat?'_ Caine thought _'What a weird name'_ listening to her half of the conversation "I just ran into Juggernaut again… yeah I dealt with him… he wasn't alone either… Yeah he's stuck again… I know! I was just thinking that… Alright see you guys soon". Snapping her phone shut she turned to look at Caine, who was still staring in shock at her.

She grinned and bounced over to him "Hi! Thanks for the help!" she bubbled happily "I didn't really need it, but it's the thought that counts! I'm Shadowcat, who are you? I've never seen you around here before! How did you deflect that car? You were really fast and I didn't see how you did it. Hey can you help? I need someone to keep an eye on dickwad over here" she gestured at the man in the ground who was looking rather depressed "It won't be for long, just until the others get here then you can split. I really need to go find his friend, they ran off. Well do you mind?" Caine continued to stare at her while his mind tried to catch up with what she was saying.

"Um" he stuttered wondering how anyone could be so happy "Sure?" he asked her suddenly unsure of what she would do to him if he said 'No'

"Thanks!" she beamed at him before throwing her arms around him in a quick hug and then running towards the warehouse I had been stopped in front of, as he watched she ran right through the wall. Caine stared in awe at that _'Wow, that's a pretty awesome Mutation, and she hugged me, I'm not really sure why the hell she would do that it felt weird'_.

He look over at the man, _'Juggernaut' _he recalled Shadowcat calling him, who was alternating between glaring at him and looking like he was trying to take a dump. Sniggering at the image Caine spotted the car he had smashed into lying in the middle of the road, walking over to it he poured all his enhanced strength into picking it up, quickly fortifying his arms to support the weight, lifting it over his head he stood there helplessly looking for a place to put it. Walking back over to the Juggernaut he awkwardly dropped the car down in one of the parking spaces nearby.

Caine turned back to see the Juggernaut looking at him thoughtfully. "How hard was that for you to lift boy?" he asked his voice grating on Caine's nerves, Caine shrugged "Not bad" he said "I'm not sure how much I can lift, but I've lifted a car before so I knew I could". The Juggernaut narrowed his eyes in thought _'Huh, it shouldn't look that painful to think'_ Caine noted in his mind "Give a guy a hand up then?" he demanded. Annoyed Caine stalked over to Juggernaut, crouching slightly he held out his hand "Well, come on gimme your hand" he smirked at him. The Juggernaut's face lit up for a split second before falling as he remembered that he couldn't move his arms, a glare crossing upon his face as he settled for scowling at his guard.

Pain erupted across Caine's body as a flash of red light threw him back into the car he had just moved. Rolling over he looked up to see a brown-haired man holding a hand to a strange red visor and a shorter blonde guy standing next to him.

Straightening up Caine sent a dark glare at the man who had attacked him, _'They must be the 'friends' that Shadowcat mentioned were hanging around'_ he reasoned, looking around his eyes settled on the car he had just been thrown into. He gripped the front of the car and put his strength into lifting it again, this time he swung himself around and threw it at the men, smirking as he watched them dive out of the way. His smirked faded fast when a ball of ice smacked into his face knocking him down. Rolling into an upright position he started running towards the pair reverting into his metal form as he went, feeling his wings tearing the burnt shirt from his back.

Lunging at the blonde his threw his arm out from the side forming his arm into a long whip, flicking it around the teen's legs he pulled back causing him to get jerked off his feet, his head colliding sharply with the tarmac road. He released his hold on the blonde and made his way toward the taller man who was just standing up, he raised his hand to his visor again and another beam of red light shot towards Caine, who instinctively raised his arms in front of him. He fused arms together to form a shield hoping it would help, he felt the intense heat on his arm shield followed by a cry of shock and a smash as the heat vanished.

Chancing a look Caine saw the taller one rolling out of a human-sized dent in the warehouse wall clutching his chest with one hand while the other went back to his glasses. Smarter this time I just folded my wings across my body when he fired his strange eye lasers at me, he could hear the beams tearing apart the metal of the warehouse.

"STOP!" an angry voice cried out, almost instantly the lasers stopped. Allowing his wings to fold back behind his back Caine saw a tall red-headed woman stalking towards the battling pair. She waved her arm at him and Caine felt the telekinetic energies surrounding him, freezing him in place. He instinctively started rippling his body, ensuring that the metal never kept still and almost instantly he felt the energies fade from him allowing him to move again.

Caine spread his wings, ready to leap forward to continue fighting when he saw Shadowcat running through the warehouse wall. _'Through a hole in the wall this time, not the wall itself'_ Caine idly noted. "Wait! He's on our side" she shouted as she ran up to us, stepping in front of me as if to protect me, she paused and looked back at me "You are on our side aren't you?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

Caine blinked at her "I have no idea who the hell you are" he pointed out "I only noticed you were here because I almost had my head taken off by a car".

The three of them exchanged shocked looks, before the red-headed woman stepped forward "We" she said gesturing to the four of them, including the blonde who had finally regained his feet swaying "Are part of the X-Men".

Caine's eyes widen and his jaw dropped "Really!" he squealed "OH MY GOD! I can't believe it's you! I'm your biggest fan" he gushed his face alit with admiration

"Uh really?" the blonde asked incredulity looking shocked and backing away slightly.

"No" Caine deadpanned "I've never heard of you before in my life" he said dryly. Ignoring the equal relieved and shocked looks that crossed over the two teens faces.

He turned to the red-head "I have no idea who are you, seriously" he said.

"You don't know who the X-Men are?" the brunet cut in "You're a Mutant though, how can you not know who the X-Men are?" he asked disbelief evident on his face.

Narrowing his eyes Caine looked at the taller man "I don't like you" he stated bluntly

Rolling her eyes the red-head spoke "The X-Men are a group founded by Charles Xavier to help combat the darker Mutants"

Caine perked up "Charles Xavier?" he asked "Now that is a name I've heard."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**AN/: I feel the need to tell you guys that I actually like Scott. Caine doesn't like him at the moment because, well Scott attacked him. And Scott doesn't like Caine because Caine reflected his power back and embarrassed him, he also feels guilty for just attacking him now he sees how young Caine is and the feels cause them to snark at each other a lot. There will be a lot of Scott bashing, but there will also be Logan, Xavier, Jean, Bobby bashing, basically everyone he doesn't know. I will probably write a Scott based story one day (If I can remember its Scott, not Scoot)**

**AN/: OKAY! If I start writing in first person please forgive, I've been fighting a losing battle with the I and He/Him pronouns this entire Chapter.**

**WARNING: It has come to my attention that I mix 'as' and 'and' up a lot, this is a general typing error, I think one but type the other.**

**Chapter begin.**

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With a smile the red-headed woman stepped forward, holding her hand out to me "Jean Grey" she said "Telekinetic".

Caine reached out and shook her hand "Caine, Caine Anderson" he replied, Jean raised her eyebrow, "Oh um, I thought it was obvious" he said looking down at his metal chest and then other his shoulders to the wings twitching there.

She laughed, "I do suppose it is, can you turn it off?" she asked.

She was surprised at the speed his face closed off with an empty glint appearing in his eyes, realising her mistake she quickly corrected herself "I mean do you look like that all the time or can you activate it?"

She sighed a mental sigh of relief as she saw his stance relax a bit.

"Sort of" Caine replied metallic body rippling as the metals became flesh, he gestured at his shoulder, which was still metal "I get spotches like this, I can direct them to the less visible parts of my body, but I can't get rid of them. And my eyes are like this permanently".

"Wow dude. That's awesome!" came from the breathless blonde. Both of the teens, now holding hands, stared at him awe "That's just like Colossus" he exclaimed.

With a fond look at the blonde Shadowcat piped up "He turns into metal like that as well".

"Yeah well I AM metal" Caine snapped at her, instantly feeling guilty _'Wait what? Guilt? That's a first'_.

His guilt must have flashed across his face because Shadowcat gave him an apologetic look.

"Scott here" Jean said "Shoot optical beams from his eyes" looking at the holes in the warehouse wall "Although I think you already knew that".

Scott settled for nodding his head, his glare still going at full force. _'Well'_ Caine thought _'He doesn't like me either, this is good, I can have some fun with Mr Cyclops'_. Caine smirked at him, "Judging by the scorch marks on his chest I'd say Cyclops here knows that as well" he pointed out, smirk growing as Scott's glare deepened.

"Cyclops?" he questioned "It seems you DO know who we are" he said smugly.

At Caine's questioning glance Jean clarified "Cyclops is Scott's Mutant name, I'm the Phoenix, Bobby is Iceman and Kitty is Shadowcat."

Nodding Caine turned his attention towards the newly named Kitty, now he had time to look at her without flying cars or her excited babbling he actually saw she was wearing a suit, one similar to the suits the other 3 were wearing.

"Did you find your guy?" he asked her, face falling she shook her head "No, Pyro got away" she said sadly.

"Pyro?" Caine asked "Is he around my height?"

"Kind of I guess" Kitty said.

"Does he have Black peppered hair?" he questioned.

"Of course not" she replied shaking her head "He's blonde"

Caine raised an eyebrow and turned to Scott "Don't you feel stupid now?" he questioned, smirking again at Scott's scowl.

"It was an honest mistake" Jean cut in glaring at Scott who had opened his mouth to snap back.

"I saw him standing over Juggernaut offering to help him up" he argued "I was right to think he was an enemy"

"Oh yes, I held my hand out to the guy whose hands are trapped underground, I'm definitely an enemy" Caine snapped, eyes narrowing "He annoyed me so I took petty revenge, so be careful there Goggles, I have no honour nor any sense of right or wrong."

Scott's eyes narrowed as well "Is that so?" he challenged stepping forward his hand drifting up to rest beside his glasses "Is that a threat?"

Smirking Caine stepped forward himself reverting his body into a metallic skeleton wings spread ready to cover himself "No, not a threat, a warning" he said casually inspecting his nails, not that he had any in this form seemingly bored with Scott.

Caine's wings got in front of his body just as Scott fired a blast at his shoulder reflecting it to the side.

"ENOUGH" yelled Jean causing the boys to look over at her, with her hand extending she was standing in front of the teens in front of her was a floating orb of red energy. Jean redirected it away from them.

"Scott" she snapped "You are the leader of the X-Men, you will act like it".

"And you!" she rounded on Caine "You will stop riling him up!"

"I wasn't riling him up" Caine argued "He's just grouchy" he said with an innocent look on his face.

Jean narrowed her eyes at him and he beamed at her, her eyes narrowed and his grin grew.

"Can you explain to us what you were doing here if you weren't helping Juggernaut?" Jean asked warning in her tone.

"That would be my fault Ms Grey" Kitty said guiltily "I asked him to guard Juggernaut until you guys got here" shuffling her feet.

"And why was he here in the first place if he wasn't with Juggernaut?" Scott argued looking at Caine with suspicion on his face.

"I only got involved because I almost got hit by a car" Caine snapped at Scott "Juggernaut almost knocked me off my bike. And then I saw Shadowcat here about to be crushed by another car, so I intercepted it. Your welcome." He added

This caused Scott's eyes to narrow _'Again? He's going to get wrinkles at this rate, the benefits of metal skin'_ Caine mused. Eyeing Jean who snorted with laughter Scott pointed out "Kitty can phase through anything, the car would have had no effect on her".

Rolling his eyes Caine argued back "However I had no idea she was even a Mutant, so in my eyes I was trying to save her life."

A look of triumph flashed across Scott's face "So you were trying to do a good thing?" he questioned.

Realising what he was inferring Caine shrugged mentally apologizing to Kitty _'Wow what is going on there, apologizing for what I'm thinking? She's making me soft!"_ before saying as casually as he could "Yeah well, have you tried cleaning Human of your tires, I would have been there all night".

Guilt flooding him at the look of hurt on Kitty's face he turned to her. "Since you're one of these X-Men people do you know Charlie Xavier?" he asked.

"Yes, yes I do" she responded a little coldly.

Mentally cringing _'Dammit, I didn't want to hurt her'_

Somehow sensing my dilemma Jean spoke up "Yes, he runs the Institute where we live".

Perking up gratefully at the change in topic Caine looked at her "The Institute? The Institute for Gifted Youngsters?" he asked.

"How can you know about the Institute but not about the X-Men" Scott asked sceptically.

Caine shrugged at him, a gesture he quickly realised annoyed Scott for some reason. "Because the person who told me about Xavier told me to go to the Institute, she said nothing about your X-Men" he explained to Jean.

Eyebrows furrowed "You mean you're heading towards the Institute?" she asked.

"Yeah" Caine said "I've been kicked out again and my neighbour said that the Institute is a good place to live without having to look over my shoulder for fear of being attacked again."

Jean's eyes which were widening when he said 'kicked out' flew wide open when he mentioned being attacked.

"You were attacked?" she shouted at him "What happened?"

Surprised Caine answered "He uh stabbed me in the back" not understanding her reaction, and only getting more confused when she leapt forward and spun him around and started inspecting his bare back.

"There's no scar" she said soundly relieved. "Of course not" Caine answered getting more confused by the minute "He used a metal knife, I just absorbed it into me" he turned to face her again.

Jean's eyes searched his "Did he at least get arrested for it?" she questioned.

Caine scowled "He got off, they claimed that he was only trying to protect the neighbourhood". He smirked at Scott again "They changed their tune when they found out he had several boys my age locked up in his basement."

Jean's eyebrows rose, before shaking her head, she searched my face again before turning to the others. "Kitty, can you go get the Blackbird ready? We'll take him to the mansion while the boys clean up" mentally cheering at the chance to apologise to Kitty without Scott present Caine almost missed Jean's command for him to go get his bike.

Jogging over to where he last saw it he lifted it off its side, scowling at the new scratches in the paint, before noting that you could barely see them in amongst the other scratches.

Feeling better about using his powers he lifted the bike onto one shoulder. Turning back he jogged over to where Jean was standing eyebrow raised at his obvious showing off, smirking innocently at her he shrugged his other shoulder.

They looked over to where Scott and Bobby were standing looking down at Juggernaut, Caine's mind couldn't resist helpfully pointing out _'Scott's butt almost makes up for him being a total arse'_ arguing with his mind about whether or not it was worth he missed Jean talking to him. Until she waved her hand in front of his face.

Blushing slightly _'Oh my god! I'm blushing now! Bloody female Mutants making me soft, I don't even like females! Wait, What? I don't? Dammit it would have been nice to know that before'_ he followed her behind the warehouse.

'_Hmm good place for her to kill me and hide the body'_ he thought absentmindedly _'Wait, YAY my paranoia is back, you took your time' _he accused. Feeling totally unrepentant his paranoia pointed out the way that Jean was shaking her head in amusement. Ignoring the cries of 'She's up to something!' Caine followed her to the courtyard behind the warehouse stopping shocked at the sight of the huge jet that was situated there.

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**AN/: I'm not actually sure who I want Caine to be with, It has to be one of the guys. Not Kurt or Logan though, no racism intended but Kurt is blue, with a tail, and six fingers. And Logan is well, Logan.**

**So feel obligated to either PM or to mention your opinion in a review, because reviews make me write faster…**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**Chapter begin.**

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Caine might have had a snarky, paranoid, stubborn, shiny mutant exterior, but he was still a teenage boy somewhere inside, and that teenage boy was practically hyperventilating.

His head on a swivel he looked around trying to take everything in, after all it's not every day you get invited for a ride in a state of the art stealth jet plane.

Chuckling at his enthusiasm Jean nudged his side and gestured towards Kitty raising her eyebrow at him. Before turning and fiddling with some buttons near the door.

Realising what the red head was offering, Caine practically launched himself across the jet to Kitty's side.

Turning to see who was there, her smile fell as she saw him.

Wincing he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, I'm sorry" he began nervously "I didn't mean what I said back there" she raised an eyebrow at him "When I said I didn't care if you died or not" he explained hastily "I was just saying that to get under Goggles skin" giving her a sheepish look he hoped she would forgive him.

Apparently she did, her smile once again grew across her face as she beamed, "I hoped so" she said hugging him "But you looked so serious that I couldn't help but believe you."

Stiffening at his second hug in god knows how long, he hesitantly raised his arm and patted her on the back.

She pulled back with a confused smile on her face, "You don't get a lot of hugs do you?" she asked sadly. Shaking his head "First two in years" he answered. Looking at the rippling metal showing on his jaw, her face fell, she leaned forward and hugged him again "I'm sorry" she said.

"Alright kids" came Jean's voice from the back of the jet. "Strap yourselves in and let's take off" she said gesturing at the two chairs behind the pilots seats.

"Uh what about the other two?" Caine asked, doing as he was told.

Kitty smiled at him "I gave Bobby my keys, so they'll drive my car back for me" she answered.

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Caine was certain that Jean flew the long way to the Mansion, because he was certain that this jet could double if not triple their current speed.

"This jet can reach speeds of up to, Uh, Kitty help?" Jean said over her shoulder.

"Oh" Kitty said turning in her seat to face Caine "This jet" she said in a lecturing tone "is very fast, and can fly so fast its even quicker than before" nodding her head sagely.

Laughing with the girls Caine felt a strange sense of companionship, one he hadn't even felt with Anya his telekinetic neighbour. Brushing it off he decided he would think about it later.

"You know" began Jean, fiddling with a couple of buttons and switches on the dashboard next to her "The seat doesn't even register you sitting there Caine, it just weighs your clothes".

Caine raised his eyebrow "Are you calling me fat?" he teased.

Snorting Jean looked over at the dashboard again "No, I was just." She frowned and looked closer "Huh weird, I could have sworn that the seat didn't oh!" she exclaimed, looking over her shoulder at Caine briefly.

"You can change you weight?" she asked him curiously.

"Yeah, I found out when someone tried to pick me up when I was younger, I just change my density or something" he answered, not wanting to explain the real way he discovered it.

"Oh yeah" Kitty said excitedly "I remember how I learnt how to walk on air, it was awesome! I couldn't reach a book I wanted on the top shelf and I jumped up to get it, but I didn't come back down, I looked down and I was standing on the air. It scared my mother so much when she walked in" she laughed and her laughter was so contagious that Jean and Caine couldn't help but laugh with her.

"You should have seen me when I grew my wings" Caine said, Kitty cocked her head "Oh? Did they grow with the rest of your powers?" she asked. "Nah" he replied shaking his head "I got my metal form when I was 8" he ignored their gasps "I grew my wings when I was 9, I was sick and my foster mother banished me to the couch and turned on cartoons. I grew so bored that I ended up watching them, before I knew it she was telling me to go to bed and that it was dinner time." Jean chuckled.

"I watched cartoons so much that week, I completely ignored my studies or reading, I just sat there with my face glued to the screen. Eventually my foster mom just pulled out the plug and sent me to go play outside, I sulked a bit but I got distracted and played with the neighbour's kids, Mutants as well. The boy jumped into the tree and I climbed up to follow. My foster mom comes out and tells us to be careful. She knew we wouldn't be hurt, he always landed on his feet and I was made of metal, but she was a mother. I ignored her out of spite for turning off my cartoons, I climbed to the top and the branch snapped. I shifted to metal form instantly to protect myself as I started falling, then next thing my back was on fire and I was gliding, my wings were almost exact duplicates to the ones in my favourite cartoon. And they just never left, I can get rid of them, but they're part of my default metal form." He finished with a small grin, his eyes clearly seeing something else.

"That sounds so cool" Kitty said happily "Warren has wings too, he'll be happy that you'll be there, even if you don't fly with him."

"I might" Caine said slowly "I haven't been flying in so long, I've had to bring them out of course, my body gets itchy if I stay like this" he raised his flesh covered hand "for too long" he explained "I usually just walk around my apartment uh 'loud and proud' for lack of a better term"

"We're coming into the Mansion now" Jean said "If you want to unbuckle and have a look".

Caine raised his eyebrow sceptically "After how you took off?" he asked his voice dripping in humour.

Even from where he was sitting he could see her ears blush "I'm better at landing than I am at taking off" she defended.

"After feeling you take off I don't think that means anything" Caine said sarcastically, unbuckling his belt all the same and walking up to the window.

Caine looked out across the Institute as they slowly came in to hover. They slowly moved forwards edging their way slowly into the hanger located next to the football field.

"This hanger was built not so long ago" Jean said "I uh, lost control and disintegrated our old jet." She said sadly. Caine turned to stare at her in shock and she winced slightly at it, looking slightly hurt. "How could you destroy something so awesome?" he asked scandalized "Why not destroy the swimming pool or something?" Jean sighed, relieved that he wasn't judging her for the events on the island, before remembering that he probably didn't know about what happened there, she sighed sadly "I didn't exactly have control over myself" she said.

Caine just blinked at her "You mean you were not yourself? Or that you couldn't control your power?"

Jean winced again, "The first one" she murmured.

Caine turned to look out the window watching some of the teens that had gathered waiting to see who was in the jet. "Did you do it on purpose?" he asked quietly.

"Never" Jean replied just as quietly "I could only watch as it happened."

Caine slapped a hand onto her shoulder squeezing softly "Then it wasn't you was it? Just because someone used your body to do something doesn't mean that you did it." He beamed at her "It's the same thing with shape shifters" he explained "Just because they look like someone doesn't mean they are that person". He turned and walked over to where Kitty was waiting quietly by the ramp.

"Come on" she said, pushing the button to lower the ramp "We should get you to the Professor".

Together they descended the ramp and headed towards the group of students watching them.

Behind them Jean sat frozen at the controls, tears slowly making their way down her face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**I'm thinking of making it a Caine/Piotr story, I was considering making it Warren, but with both of them being socially awkward with wings, it makes more sense to me for them to be bffs or something close like that. Besides, Piotr in the movies is hot.**

**Le Chapter**

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Being stared at by so many people caused Caine's hackles to rise, his eyes began glowing dangerously and the rippling across his body almost doubled as part of his defence mechanism, which of course only made people stare more.

Kitty looked over at him and almost fell over, "Hey uh Caine?" she asked nervously, he turned and looked at her eyebrow raised his eyes flickering around "Uh Caine, can you see yourself right now?" she asked.

Caine turned his full attention on her, spotting the fear spark in her eyes. He forced himself to clear his mind before speaking "Sorry Kitty. Did you say something?" She continued to stare fearfully at him "You're uh, you're growling" she said weakly.

Caine blinked, surprised to find Kitty was right and that he had been growling. "Uh sorry about that" he apologizing weakly.

A forced smile flickered onto Kitty's face, "Um, that's not all" she said quickly, she reached into the jacket in her arms that he didn't notice before and pulled out a small compact mirror.

"Here" she offered softly.

Caine flicked it open and stared at his appearance, gone was the 19 year old boy. In his place was a tall skeletal being made purely of dark metals, eyes a glowing red, bat-like wings stretching out from his back. His mouth dropped open in shock "I, uh, I kinda forgot that I did that" he offered breathlessly.

He paused and slowly reached a hand behind him, pulling a dark metal tail around to his front. He sighed and looked around.

Snapping the mirror shut he shoved it back into Kitty's hands before dragging her into the closest door slipping inside and closing the door softly.

Sighing he leant his forehead against the door and forced himself to relax, absentmindedly feeling the wings and tail sinking back into his body as it rippled from metal to flesh again.

He turned around to apologize to Kitty only to freeze at the sight of a room full of people.

Breath catching he could feel his skin beginning to ripple once more, forcing down the urge to shift he pushed his human appearance to the front again as he looked at the people who were watching him back.

Kitty gave him an awkward smile "Uh Caine, this is Professor Charles Xavier" she said still a little fearfully, causing him to wince internally _'I really need to learn how to survive around people or this new urge to apologize for things I keep doing is going to drive me homicidal faster than… something really fast'_.

Caine looked at the man Kitty had gestured too with barely veiled scepticism. A man of average height he had dark brown hair that curved up into two horns at his fringe, as his eyes swept over the man they took in the huge arms, wide chest and shoulders. Dark stubble grew across his face as he chewed on a cigar. "Not me bub" the beast-man growled out "She meant Wheels" as he stepped to the side revealing a man almost his opposite.

Leaning forward in his wheelchair the bald man smiled softly at him "Hello Caine" he said gently "I am Professor Charles Xavier, I run this school."

Still eyeing the beast-man standing at the side warily, Caine forced a small smile onto his face "It's a pleasure to meet you sir" he began, calling on all his knowledge on social etiquette.

The Professor chuckled softly at that "Just Charles or Xavier will do, now don't bother trying to act polite, I prefer to talk face to face, not hiding behind social niceties, I doubt you could be much worse than Logan here" he said gesturing at the beast-man beside him.

Turning to the beautiful woman standing to his left he introduced her "This is Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm, another Professor here", the woman smiled broadly at Caine, shaking her head to shift her shortly cut white hair from her face. Looking into her electric blue eyes Caine knew he could trust this woman with his life, and odd feeling for him.

Returning his attention to the Professor as the man gestured to the beast-man, Logan, "This" he said "Is Logan, or Wolverine, also a teacher here".

Logan just grunted at Caine, as they eyed each other like the other would attack at any time.

The Professor cleared his throat and nodded towards the last person in the room "And this, is Doctor Hank McCoy".

Doctor McCoy Caine mused is a man easy to spot in a crowd. Covered head to toe in bright blue fur he smiled politely at Caine tilting his head in acknowledgment _'He must have a terrible shedding problem, or at least hairballs'_ Caine thought instantly, absently nodding back.

Xavier chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

"Now Mr Anderson" he begun "I received a call from an old friend this morning about you".

At this Caine raised an eyebrow, knowing Anya she wouldn't have held any information she felt relevant.

Xavier shook his head "No, she didn't, in fact the call lasted for over an hour".

Caine winced, this wouldn't end well for him, he knew that much instinctively.

Smiling Xavier "Now now, it wasn't that bad, she thinks very highly of you" he comforted.

Caine blinked _'First, that doesn't sound like Anya. Second, I'm either thinking out loud, or he's a'_

"Yes Mr Anderson, I am a telepath" Xavier said interrupting my thoughts "Hello Jean, were there any problems?" he asked as she slipped into the room behind me.

She threw an encouraging smile at me, I could tell instantly that this one was a lot realer than any of the smiles I had seen earlier.

"No Professor, Scott and Bobby are cleaning up and licking their wounded pride" she answered, smirking at the end.

"Oh?" asked Ororo "What happened to their manly pride?" she asked teasingly.

Innocently Jean widened her eyes slightly "Nothing much" she said in a mock whisper "They tried to take on our guest here and had their arses back to them on a silver platter".

Logan scoffed "You expect me to believe that this boy could defeat both Bobby and Scooter?"

Caine snorted at the nickname "I don't think Goggles is a fast learner" he said in explanation, "He didn't realise that shooting those beams of his at a reflective surface will bounce them back" he said mock sympathy lacing his words.

Logan looked at him for a moment then tipped his head back and barked a laugh "Did you really use a mirror against him?" he asked.

"No" Caine replied smugly "I was the mirror" forming a shield along his arm in demonstration.

At this 'Fuzz' as Caine had termed him leaned forward, brows furrowing in thought "What type of metal is that?" he asked "I've never heard of any metal that can reflect Scott's optic blasts" he said deep in thought

Caine shrugged "What metal do you want me to be?" he asked smugly as Fuzz's eyebrows rose in shock.

Xavier smiled softly "So Caine, do you want to enrol in this school? I don't foresee any problems with you enrolling here"

Caine frowned "But I'm 19 sir" he argued. _'I know I have a photographic memory but I don't think I can catch up everything'_

Chuckling softly Xavier corrected "But you never graduated high school, that's enough of a reason for you to be allowed to enrol, we can put you into whatever class you feel most comfortable, I'm sure with your photographic memory you will rise to the top of the class quickly".

Caine hesitated, deep in thought, he glanced over at Jean and Kitty, who were standing side by side smiling at him.

He made his mind up quickly, if there was even a small chance for him to be a normal teenager, with friends, then he would grasp it with both hands and all his enhanced strength.

Looking back to Xavier he smiled "Yeah, I can survive school" he said, feeling a lot more confident about it this time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**I know I said I wanted your opinion, but at the rate I'm writing I don't really give you the time to answer. And as such I've decided to write it Caine/Piotr, because I like the idea.**

**I'm going to classify Caine as an Omega Level mutant, I don't really consider him Gamma because he can learn to control his shimmering (When parts of his body ripple between flesh and metal against his will. Compared to Rippling, which is when he fully shifts a limb or his body/wings). For reasons I won't go into now (Spoilers) you will come to understand why he's an Omega and not an Alpha which are considered just a little below Omega.**

**Le Chapter**

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Xavier, Storm, Jean, and Kitty all beamed at me, "Alright then" Xavier said "Let's get you enrolled then shall we?" he asked reaching into one of his desk draws pulling out a sheet of paper.

Xavier asked the basic questions. Name, age, place of birth. They were all shocked to find out that Caine was Welsh. Smirking he explained "My name is actually Cayynee, pronounced the same" he said "I changed it when my foster mother took me in, we agreed it was easier this way, Caine not being as odd. I insisted on keeping at least one E though". Everyone looked at him shocked when he allowed his Welsh accent to resurface.

Smirk growing larger he shrugged "It was easier to hide it, less reason for people to stare at me" he said looking down at his chest as it shimmered.

"Oh" Ororo exclaimed "How rude of us, are you cold? Do you need a shirt?"

Caine shook his head "I don't actually get cold" he said "I don't even know if I have a body temperature, my neighbour said that I was slightly chilled compared to her, not much difference, but noticeable".

Nodding Xavier continued asking questions, which Caine answered as truthfully as he could. Some of the times he lied slightly Xavier would give him a slightly longer look before writing something down.

"Now the fun questions" Xavier said, looking just as excited as the others, Logan excluded he still looked disinterested.

"Your powers" Xavier said, looking at him intently.

Caine forced himself to think about something he saw on one of those random Asian cartoons.

Xavier just blinked at him, before chuckling "That is a rather strange image" he said.

"Could you specify what you mean by my powers?" Caine asked smirking.

Xavier nodded before looking at the door, Caine turned and looked at it as it opened, a short woman stepped in her shocking pink hair waving as she bounced up to Caine and looked at him with a calculating gaze.

She stepped back and looked him up and down before starting to circle him. Finally she paused in front of him and beamed at him, reaching out and grabbing his hand in hers she bumped it up and down.

"So you're the Omega class mutant I sensed entering the school, it's very nice to meet you" she gushed.

Caine was shocked into silence as the stern woman evolved into a bouncy puppy.

She blinked at him, staring at his chest "It's definitely very nice to meet you" she said eyes roaming.

Caine shifted uncomfortably, feeling a blush spread across his cheeks. Jean laughed "Look at him blush!" Ororo joined in "It's so cute" she chuckled.

"Wow it goes down far" the strange puppy-girl said still staring at his chest.

Caine looked down and saw a strange red metal spreading slowly from his face and down his chest.

He reached up and touched it frowning "That's new" he said, more to himself than the others.

"That's new? As in that's never happened before or as in you haven't had a girl made you blush before?" Kitty asked narrowing her eyes, almost fearing the answer.

As they watched the blush of red metal deepened and spread faster covering most of his chest and stopping just above his bottom ribs.

"Uh, last one" Caine mumbled.

"What do you mean by that?" Ororo demanded seething.

"People don't exactly want to flirt with a guy who is made entirely out of metal" Caine mumbled, more intimidated by Ororo like this than Logan as he growled.

Thunder crashed outside causing everyone to jump, looking sheepish Ororo looked out the window and the dark storm clouds dispersed rapidly.

"I see why they call you 'Storm', that was awesome" Caine said even more intimidated.

"Excuse me, but what did you mean when you said you were made entirely out of metal?" Doctor McFuzz asked.

"Exactly what I meant, instead of skin I'm covered in tiny particles of metal. Skin, flesh, all metal." Caine explained as Xavier kept writing

"What about your organs? Your bones?" the Doctor asked excitedly.

He smirked "What organs? What bones?" he asked innocently. Purposely causing a hole in his chest to form, they watched as the 'skin' rippled away like water, the hole got deeper and deeper until they were looking through to the wall behind Caine. "I have neither" Caine explained "My body still produces things like saliva and sweat somehow though".

"No offense intended my boy, but you are extremely fascinating!" Doctor McCoy said, still staring at the hole in my chest.

Caine shrugged looking directly at Xavier "The scientist I spoke to said it was as if I was made entirely from an organic liquid metal, he kept getting frustrated because after taking samples they would refuse with my body" he said.

"Refuse?" Logan asked.

Caine clenched his jaw "I'd rather not talk about that" he said "Nor will I demonstrate it" he added as Doctor McCoy opened his mouth to speak.

"An Organic Liquid Metal?" the Professor repeated "Would this be how you looked as you did when you snuck into this office?" he asked.

A blush of red metal once more started forming across his face, Caine sighed. "I used to have to walk home after dark when I was 12, and which the physical aspect of my Mutation I wasn't well liked. So some men tried to beat me up, and I was thinking that I wanted them to just leave, and next thing I know they're screaming and running away, It wasn't till I saw myself in a store window that I realised what had happened. I don't really choose to look like that, it just happens when I feel really really threatened. Shortly after that transformation I practiced a lot and realised that I could change my form as I wished, there are limits of course, but it's pretty useful" he explained eyes on the ground.

As Xavier opened his mouth to speak the door burst open, and Scott stormed in.

"Charles!" he yelled "We need to talk".

Xavier sighed and set the pen he was writing quickly with. He folded his hands together "Yes?" he asked politely.

"There is a very dangerous Mutant in the area! He's very powerful and managed to defeat both Bobby and I easily, and he threatened Kitty" he said loudly. Bobby slipped into the room quietly, nodding his head at the others and grimacing slightly when he saw Caine.

"Hmmm" Xavier leant back in his chair "This mutant" he begun "Would he be slightly shorter than you?" at Scott's nod he continued "Black and grey hair curly hair? Pure Silver eyes? No Shirt and Jeans?"

"Yes! That's him" Scott declared.

Caine quickly shifted into the black demon again and stood behind Scott quietly.

"Ah yes Scott" Xavier said a small smile dancing across his face "Well he's standing right behind you"

Scott spun around to find himself face to face with glowing red eyes and a grin of razor sharp teeth.

Scott squealed and threw himself backwards, crashing into the desk he bounced forward and collided with Caine and collapsing to the ground on his back at Caine's feet.

While the rest of the room was laughing Caine's body rippled as he retook human form, his flesh popping back into place. Caine raised his eyebrow at the panting man on the ground "I recall that I threatened YOU not Kitty".

As Xavier stopped laughing he quickly wrote something on the sheet of paper in front of him, turning to the women, "Ladies, would you mind showing Caine here to his room? I believe the one opposite Piotr is free now, don't worry about a key, Mr Anderson doesn't play nice when it comes to them."

All agreeing they lead the way out of the room, Caine stopped to pick up his bags which Jean must have dropped by the door before following them. Jean handed him the keys to his bike before smiling "Follow us" she said smiling "I think you'll like Piotr, he's very much your type" she said over her shoulder.

Caine paused _'My type? What does she mean by that?'_

"Oh you'll see what I mean" Jean said "He's a really nice guy actually, like you he's treated differently because of his looks."

Caine froze, he hadn't said that out loud, he knew that for certain.

"Oh yeah" Ororo agreed "He's huge, but he's the softest guy you'll ever meet".

The girls continued for a couple of steps before realising Caine wasn't following. Turning they saw him staring at Jean in shock.

"You're a telepath" he accused her.

Jean flushed "Yeah, I am. I told you I lost control, it was mainly because of my telepathy. People can usually guess who I am when they find out what I can do" she explained sadly.

"You've been reading my thoughts since we meet" Caine narrowed his eyes accusingly at her.

"No!" she defended "I'm trying as hard as I can to not read minds, I only caught a few thoughts. Scott getting wrinkles, about the speed of the jet." She blushed as she said the next one "About how Scott's butt makes up for his personality."

The girls cracked up laughing while Caine blushed madly.

"Thank you also for thinking I had a nice butt too" Jean said.

'_I didn't say that, but Ororo's is better'_ he thought instantly before his eyes widened "NO!" he shouted covering his mouth.

Jean cracked up again turning to Ororo "Dammit Ro, I work out more than you and the new guy still thinks you have the nicer butt"

Ororo winked at Caine laughing as his blush of red metal deepened even further.

Caine sighed, his day wasn't going very well.

"Did something happen to Scott? He didn't look like he was in a good mood" said a voice from behind Caine.

Caine jumped mentally cursing at allowing himself to be distracted and spun around.

Standing there was a tall man, Brown hair cropped close to his skull, tanned skin stretched over large muscles, stormy grey eyes locked onto Caine's silver orbs.

Caine gulped, his day had just become a whole lot better.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**I would like to thank Mercy15 for their review. It meant a lot. And thanks for the ideas for relationships.**

**So yay! My first story is complete! (Not this one) I enjoyed writing it so much you can expect a lot more from me!**

**Le Chapter**

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Caine shut the door to his room with a sigh, putting his bags down by his feet. He was surprised, this opening up thing wasn't going too badly. He felt the potential friendships Jean, Kitty and Ororo could be, and he was looking forward to it.

And Piotr, wow, he's never felt THAT before. He spent most of the time trying not to blush, shirtless the blush would have been more obvious. Caine could see what the girls meant when they said he was a big softie, he was polite and cheerful, but quiet and slightly withdrawn, he was nothing like the hulking brute he look. _'But dam, he's one good looking hulking brute'_, shaking his head to clear his head he looked around the room.

Whistling he strode to the centre, it was amazing compared to where he normally lived. The oaken walls making the room look a lot lighter than it should, the soft carpet beneath Caine's feet springing back up when he lifted his feet.

He didn't know if he could live like this. This was too much. Sighing he went over to his bags and started unpacking.

He finished putting his things away shortly after, one of the perks of having very little belongings, looking around his room he decided to take a nap, since he hadn't gotten much sleep on the road, kicking his shoes off he made his way towards the bed.

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Waking to the sound of someone knocking he heaved himself off the bed, still dressed in the torn jeans he fell asleep in he opened the door.

The three girls on the other side took one look at his chest and started blushing. Ororo on the other hand eyed him appreciatively then shook her head and the blushing girls "Hey Caine" she said "Sorry about these ones but Kitty was telling them about the new eye-candy and they just had to see you" she explained. The girls became very interested in the metal blush making its way across his face.

"Anyway, it's time for dinner" she laughed at the look of shock on his face "Yes you slept that long, don't worry it's the same for Logan, there is just something about this place that screams 'safe' and makes you feel happy" she explained. "So if you'll grab a shirt we'll show you to the kitchen" she said.

Caine nodded and headed over to the drawers, taking out a worn red shirt and pulling it on much to the girl's disappointment. He nodded to Ororo and flicked the lock before closing the door behind him.

"Hi, I'm Rogue" said one of the brunette girls in a southern drawl "I'm a leech" she added, at this questioning look she reached out and placed her hand on his before concentrating. She stopped almost causing Ororo to walk into her, frowning she squeezed a little before releasing his hand, she then placed her hand on his cheek and concentrated again. She dropped her hand and looked at him "I can't do it" she said softly "I can touch people and drain their energy and powers, but I can't do it on you" she shook her head slowly. "I'm Alice!" a short blonde piped up, filing the awkward silence "I'm a healer" she chirped to Caine, who nodded to her before turning to the other brunette. She smirked "I'm Dupe" she said simply, before she started walking again, while at the same time another her started walking in the other direction. Caine looked after them both before he shouted "Aren't you going the wrong way?" to the second one. They all looked at him shocked before the first one shimmered and disappeared and the second walked back towards them "How did you know?" she demanded playfully a pout forming across her face. "First You was fuzzy" Caine said helpfully, Dupe just blinked "Makes sense" before she started moving in the right direction, everyone else followed.

"What about you?" Caine asked Ororo "I know you created and got rid of that storm earlier" he pointed out. Ororo smiled happily "I can create and manipulate weather" she said "Storms, wind, fog, all of it. Just not Earthquakes, Earthquake weather is a total lie." Caine stared at her, "People actually ask you that?" he asked shocked. Ororo got a sympathetic look on her face "Sadly" she answered.

"So Caine, I hear that you're Welsh" Alice chirped changing the subject blushing. Caine nodded and didn't say anything. "Well?" Alice said annoyed by his silence "That wasn't a question" he pointed out. Rogue rolled her eyes "Do you still have an accent?" she asked. Caine rolled his eyes this time "Don't be stupid, Welsh people don't have accents, it's all a conspiracy created by the aliens" he explained letting his full Welsh accent out. The girls all squealed at that. "You should totally keep the accent, it's gorgeous!" Dupe declared "Oh! Say my name! Please!" she begged Caine sighed but obeyed. He spent the rest of the walk saying their names and various words and phrases.

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" Caine said as he entered the kitchen pausing to see at least several dozen people student and teacher alike sitting spread out along the tables, Ororo placed her hand on his shoulder "The Professor and Doctor McCoy would like you to sit with them tonight, I think they want to interrogate you on your powers", Caine nodded to show he understand and followed her to the table with the Professor and Doctor.

Caine was directed to a seat opposite Piotr and he hoped to anyone that would hear him that he wouldn't blush he was so busy concentrating on those thoughts he forgot he was in the presence of two telepaths and as such missed the knowing look they exchanged. He murmured a greeting to everyone in response to their own.

"How did you find your room?" the Professor asked him "It's not what I was expecting, the standards are very different" Caine answered honestly ignoring the scoff that Scott made at that "I'm kind of afraid that I'll break something accidently, I'm used to the cheap gungy type of apartment, it's a bit overwhelming to suddenly go to this" he said waving his hand at the surrounding room.

The Professor nodded at that "Yes" he said "I must admit I'm used to this, I grew up in the mansion. I was more than happy to convert it to a school though. Having no children of my own it would have been rather lonely, but like this I have a rather large strong amazing family" he said softly pride at his family obvious in his voice, causing the other members of the table to smile softly and blush slightly.

'_Piotr should really blush a lot more'_ Caine thought idly before wrenching his eyes down to his plate before the tall man noticed he was looking.

"Caine" Rogue scolded a couple of seats down "I thought we agreed you would speak normally?" she asked. "No" Caine smirked "You agreed and I just stood there confused" he corrected.

"Jean" Rogue whined. Jean looked at her "You have a point Rogue. No it's not fair is it. Yes I'm speaking aloud. Because telepathy at the dinner table is rude. I care. He might too. Really?" she turned to look at Piotr then back "That's different then. Yes. Yes. No. Alright." She said giving pauses where Caine assumed she was reading Rogues thoughts.

"Honey" Scott said sternly "I thought _we_ agreed you weren't going to use your telepathy, not after what you did on the island?" the table quietened as Jean turned to look at Caine briefly before continuing to turn to Scott "Yes, well I've done some thinking about that. My telepathy is part of who I am and I will not stop using it because someone got hurt because someone misused it. It was the Phoenix who hurt those people not me." She said bravely, confidence growing after she saw the supporting smiles from her friends.

"We discussed this though Jean, you hurt people when you" Scott began condescendingly only to be cut off by Jean "Yes we did, but it's my power and I will not stop using it. I don't expect you to stop using your powers just because you attacked us at Alkali Lake do I?" she asked. "That's different!" Scott protested "I was being mind-controlled, I couldn't control my actions" he defended. "And neither could I, the Phoenix was in complete control, and that is that" she said firmly ending the conversation.

"So anyway" Jean said looking back to Caine "Caine Anderson, here we celebrate our uniqueness and to not tolerate hiding who we truly are, so you better pull that accent back out or I'll make 'I'm a Barbie girl' get stuck in your head on repeat" she said narrowing her eyes threateningly.

Caine narrowed his eyes back and leaned forward "You wouldn't dare" he said, Jean merely shrugged and started humming 'I'm a Barbie girl', Caine's eyes widened.

"Alright alright" he exclaimed "I'll speak normally then, you don't need to brutally savage my mind with that song" switching back to his natural accent.

Piotr started choking from across from him and Caine raised his eyebrow "Are you alright?" right before Piotr exploded into another coughing fit. Doctor McCoy reached over and pounded Piotr on the back until he croaked "Enough" out in his own half accent.

"Sorry guys" he said to the table before looking back down at his plate blushing.

"So Caine" the Doctor began, "From what I understand you and Piotr are quite similar" he said.

"Piotr would you mind shifting?" he asked at the confused looks from the table and the two boys themselves.

Piotr nodded then his body shuddered slightly as his skin was replaced by shining steel.

He looked over at Caine only to gasp as he looked at Caine whose skin was made out of a similar shining metal.

Piotr's face broke out in a huge beaming grin at the sight. And Caine couldn't help himself but beam back at the man.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**Le Chapter**

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"So Caine" the Doctor said "Your entire body is made from metal then?" he asked.

Rogue gasped at the sight of Caine and Piotr made of metal, having not heard the earlier conversation.

"You're a leech?" She asked him "That explains why my powers don't work on you!"

This caused both the Professor and the Doctor to stare in shock.

"Piotr do you mind if Rogue attempts her powers on you?" the Professor asked slowly.

Piotr cast Rogue a long look then nodded holding his hand out for her.

Rogue smiled apologetically at him before reaching out and taking his hand.

Almost instantly he gasped shaking slightly.

Before he knew what he was doing Caine was standing up and reaching across the table and grasping Piotr's left hand with his right hand.

Straight away Piotr inhaled and sagged slightly looking at Caine in shock.

The others at the table looked confused as Rogue's face screwed up in concentration.

She yanked her hand back from Piotr's yelping in pain.

"How did you do that?" she asked rubbing her hand.

Caine sat back down slowly frowning "I don't know" he said quietly "It just felt right".

Logan narrowed his eyes and looked to the Professor who quietly nodded.

"Rogue, would you be willing to try again with Logan?" the Professor asked slowly deep in thought.

She looked to Logan for permission.

In answer he held both his hands out. Caine reached out his left hand and grasped Logan's as Rogue did the same.

Logan grunted and grimaced before he croaked "Enough". They pulled their hands away.

Logan turned to Piotr "Once Caine touched your hand you felt no drain right?" he asked.

Piotr frowned "I felt warm and cold at the same time" he said quietly "And like random parts of my body had fallen asleep".

Caine nodded "That's what it's like with me all the time" he explained "I have random parts of my body that are like this" he waved his free hand at his metal face "The locations are random but I always have a certain amount of my body like this, I can tell where they are by the tingling feeling." He said softly.

Caine felt a pressure on his hand and looked over to see Piotr staring at their still-joint hands in shock.

The metal on Piotr's hand had changed from his normal silver steel, wisps of the darker silver metal that covered Caine's body were slowly making their way down Piotr's hand. While the lighter silver steel from Piotr's body was slowly making its way down Caine's hand in similar fashion.

Concentrating Caine focused on the colour blue, feeling a tingling colour rushed over his body as the metal covering quickly shifted into a light blue colour.

They all watched in shock as Caine's metal on Piotr's hand changed colour but Piotr's metal on Caine's hand didn't.

Caine slowly pulled his hand away, feeling Piotr's hand tighten momentarily before he released it.

The wisps of different colour metal froze, but didn't vanish. Caine lifted his hand and stared at it.

"This is the first time that someone has been able to affect my structure" Caine said slowly looking over at Piotr who was staring at his hand in fascination as well.

Caine narrowed his eyes and looked at metal on Piotr's hand, willing a change to happen.

Nothing.

He then looked at the silvery metal on his hand and willed it to change.

He heard a gasp from Piotr and looked up.

The metal wisps on his hand had turned blood red.

Caine's eyes widened "You stole my metal!" he said shocked looking back down at the silver metal.

He frowned and willed it to change patterns, he looked up at Piotr. Nothing.

He smirked and willed his entire hand to triple in density.

Piotr yelped as his hand suddenly tripled in weight and smashed into the table.

"How are you doing that?" he asked gasping.

"You stole my metal" Caine accused pointing his new weird hand at Piotr.

"My metal, my orders" Caine added shrugging.

Piotr's hand lifted from the table and shot forward grabbing Caine's.

"Take it back" he said "this is confusing and kind of scary".

Caine laughed and concentrated on pulling the metal from Piotr's hand, Caine frowned it wasn't working. Before their eyes their hands fused together.

As one they yelped jumping to their feet.

"Ah, what are you doing?" Piotr demanded.

"Me? I was going to ask you that" Caine snapped.

"How could I do that I'm" Piotr started to say but cut himself off.

Their hands where shifting, the silver metal on Piotr was rapidly draining onto Caine's hand while Caine's blue metal mixed with streaks of blood red was rapidly draining onto Piotr's.

As the metal made its way up their forearms it slowed and began to fade into the natural colour disappearing completely mid forearm, with the sound of metal grinding together their hands pulled apart causing them both to topple backwards.

The two stared at their hands in horror, while the rest of the room looked on in shock.

As they scrambled to their feet Caine focused and his body shifted into a deep green colour, he stared as the new colour faded into silver on his left hand, the steel hand not changing at all.

Hearing a yelp he looked at Piotr who was staring in horror at his purple right hand. Before their eyes it changed to black, then red, then settled on blue as Piotr looked up at Caine in shock.

Caine shifted his density to almost feather light and felt his new hand adjust as well before he turned and sprinted out of the room following his memories from before and ending up before his door. He shoved his right hand at the door and stuck his finger in the lock quickly unlocking it and darting inside his room, locking the door quickly.

Caine leaned against the door staring at his new hand.

He concentrated on turning the silver coloured hand any colour other than silver and it didn't work. He could manipulate the form of the hand but it always remained silver.

His eyes widened in thought as he quickly thought to his human form. He sighed in relief as he watched his hand turn fleshy, once again he tried to change its colour but only managed to change it to silver and back.

Caine slid down his door and sat on the floor staring at his hand.

He had been hooked up to wires and things beyond what a normal person would ever imagine, and yet hold hands with a guy and something like this happens.

Caine let out a dull laugh, oh yeah, this was his life alright.

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Caine jolted awake with a gasp.

"Hello? Caine? Are you in there? It's me Ororo" came Ororo's voice from the other side of the door.

Wincing as his back cracked he stood and slowly opened the door.

Standing there alone with a look of concern on her face was Ororo. Quickly looking up and down the hall he stepped aside to let her in.

"How are you?" she asked concerned "We haven't heard from you for two days now, and the Professor couldn't find your mind." She explained as they sat on the bed.

Caine's head jerked up from where he was staring at his right hand and he stared at her instead.

"Two days?" he asked horrified.

Sadly Ororo nodded "We were worried when you didn't come out for breakfast but thought you just needed time. Then you just didn't come out at all. I thought I would try and talk to you." She said softly.

Red metal making its way across his face he looked sheepish "I panicked for around an hour after I got back to my room, then I feel asleep." He admitted.

Ororo blinked at him "You were asleep?" she asked slowly.

At his embarrassed nod she leapt off the bed and punched him in the shoulder before cursing as a dull metallic thug echoed through the room.

"You git!" she exclaimed "We thought you had run away or been hurt! And you were sleeping!" she said crossly.

Caine shook his head "I am actually sorry, and that's saying something with me. I blame you for that by the way, in the day that I've know you for, you have made me soft."

Ororo threw her head back and laughed. "Anyway the Professor wants to see you"

'_**I hope he's alright, it looked like he was having a panic attack or something, and it's been two days'**_a familiar voice said from the corner of his mind.

Caine yelped and looked around in shock.

"What is it?" Ororo asked him concerned.

"I didn't think that" Caine said quickly "That wasn't my thought"

"What do you mean Caine?" Ororo asked him.

'_Hello?'_ Caine asked the corner carefully.

'**Yes Professor?' **came the response.

'_Piotr, it's not the Professor, its Caine'_ he thought back, ignoring Ororo's questions.

'_**Why do I get the feeling that you're not a telepath?'**_Piotr's voice came back slowly.

'_I think we need to go see the Professor'_ he thought back standing up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

'**Piotr's thoughts'**

'_Caine's thoughts'_

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Caine and Piotr stood on either side of the office eyeing each other warily.

Ororo and Jean had been forced to sit between them "Just in case" as Caine said.

"So let me get this straight." Logan said not bothering to hide his chuckles "You two hold hands, then you end up swapping hands and gaining a telepathic connection after you both pass out for two days? At least it's not me that's getting fucked over this time." He said laughing.

'**God why is this happening! I don't think I can stop myself from thinking about him!'** Piotr's thoughts came from across the bond.

Caine glanced at him slowly.

'**Oh of course he's standing like that, does he know how great his ass looks when he does that'**

Caine openly stared at him while Jean and the Professor started chuckling.

'**Oh god, three telepaths in the room and you have to have dirty thoughts about one, good job Piotr'** Piotr's blush began to match Caine's.

"Uh yeah. Piotr we get the point." Caine said quickly.

A quick series of images flew through Caine's mind from the Piotr's side of the bond causing Caine to flush even more and for Jean and the Professor's chuckles to become awkward coughs.

"Ok boys, I think that Jean and I should be able to block this connection off. I don't think we can close it but we should be able to at least make it private." The Professor said refusing to meet their eyes.

"How about a filter?" Caine asked still blushing.

Another series of images flooded Caine's mind.

"That's kind of hot" blurted Jean before she clapped her hands over her mouth, her blush becoming as red as the boy's.

Ororo's eyebrow rose as she looked at Jean.

"Piotr loves his accent" she said giving Ororo a knowing look.

"His accent is hot and I refuse to apologize for thinking that." Ororo defended, unlike the others not noticing Caine blushing even more and Piotr lightly growling.

At Piotr's growl a series of images appeared in Piotr's mind from Caine causing his eyes widened in surprise.

"Alright! Jean let's get this conversation made private yes?" The Professor said loudly.

Jean giggled "More like this porn reel"

Caine and Piotr glared at her for that, their glares made less effective by their covering of their groins.

Jean and the Professor each went to one of the boys and touched their temples after a few minutes has passed they stepped and rolled back.

"Hey Caine, you said you could change the size of your body parts didn't you?" Jean asked him suddenly.

Caine started spluttering at the images flying through Piotr's mind.

Jean and the Professor sighed in relief as their minds weren't violated by the boy's vivid imaginations.

"You can't be that flexible!" Caine exclaimed staring at Piotr in shock.

Realising what he just said they blushed as one.

"Um yeah. I'm going to find a cupboard so I can" Caine begun.

"WOAH!" Logan shouted "We don't want to know what you two are going to do." He said.

"I was going to say crawl in and die" Caine said slowly.

Logan blinked at him "I don't think I can let you do that, Piotr here would sulk and he's scary when he's in a bad mood." He said.

Caine pointed at Ororo "I meant what I said before this place has made me soft." He claimed.

"I really don't think that you're soft at all." Logan argued.

Squeaking Caine covered his groin again.

"I'm just going to go now." He said and fled, sprinting from the room.

Piotr cleared his throat. "Thank you Professor, Ms Grey. I am very thankful for your help, but is there no way to block off the connection completely?" he begged them.

The Professor shook his head "I'm sorry Piotr, but there is no way for us to block a psychic connection like that off, we don't know what damage it could cause." He explained softly.

"What about a filter? Like Caine suggested?" he asked them pleadingly.

Jean frowned "It would take time and it may not even be possible as you two aren't actually telepathic, but we might be able to teach you to shield your minds from each other." She offered.

Piotr sighed. "Thank you" he said gratitude dripping from his voice.

Suddenly his eyes bulged and his breath hitched.

"Oh my god!" he whispered.

Jean frowned before her eyes widened "You know I'm sure he could use some help with that." She said grinning.

Piotr threw her a horrified look before he ran out of the room.

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After a week of completely avoiding each other the two were forced to sit opposite each other at Dinner.

The two refused to make eye contact and would start blushing fiercely out of nowhere.

"So Caine, did you have some fun after you left the Professor's office?" Logan asked as Caine raised his glass to his lips. "I know Piotr did."

Having taken a gulp as Logan finished his sentence, he choked and sprayed his drink across the table onto Piotr, whose blush deepened even further.

As Jean and Ororo started laughing the people who weren't in the office the week before looked confused.

"I'm sure that Caine and Piotr were impressed with each other's girders" Ororo said still giggling.

Jean giggled even harder "From what I hear not even cold water could make themselves rust." She said causing them to devolve into another round of giggles.

"What do you mean Jean? Were Piotr and Caine comparing their metal?" Doctor McCoy asked causing even Logan to start laughing.

Still blushing Piotr stood to leave, he suddenly froze and slowly sat back down causing Logan, Ororo, and Jean to erupt into more laughter.

"You guys do know that even Bobby could get those jokes right?" Rogues voice piped up.

Sure enough Bobby was sitting there with a look of horror on his face as his eyes darted between Piotr and Caine.

"Bobby I swear, nothing happened." Caine claimed.

"Thank god, I'm not that flexible" Piotr muttered.

"Piotr, you said that out loud." Logan pointed out while Ororo and Jean burst into laughter and Bobby's face became even more horrified.

Piotr paled then blushed again.

"Piotr, I know we normally gossip about girls and boys. But I think it's time we found new gossip partners." Bobby said his face aflame

"It seems that Piotr and Caine have a very powerful connection to each other. I believe the term is love at first sight." The Professor said carelessly causing the boys to splutter and choke.

"Yeah, if the boys wanted to go and do lots of rude things to each other then none of us would judge them" Jean said, watching the boys faces go redder than she thought possible.

"That's not true, if any of us saw them then I'm sure we would judge them. I've seen both Piotr and Caine shirtless and I'm at least voting for an 8 out of 10" Ororo said causing her and Jean to once again dissolve into laughter.

"I'm not hungry anymore!" Caine announced before sprinting from the kitchen.

The entire table cracked up laughing at that.

Piotr started choking shortly after Caine left. His eyes widened and his breathing became laboured. He suddenly pushed his plate forward.

"I'm not hungry anymore either. Good night everyone I'll see you in a couple of days" He said before standing and sprinting after Caine.

The table went silent.

"You don't think they're actually going to?" Rogue asked softly.

Jean snorted "I'm surprised they didn't give up and jump each other on the table. After a week of seeing each other's dirtiest thoughts they were close."

The gathered teens looked at each other in horror as the adults laughed.

"Dammit!" Ororo exclaimed "I wanted to take Caine shopping, he had one bag of clothes when he got here. Now I'm going to have to wait at least two more days." She said pouting.

The teens all shuddered and let out a mass "Ew!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, They and their world belong to Marvel, which belongs to somebody who isn't me.**

**Ok I know I got them together in what might seem to be a quick manner but that was the plan all along. It may look hasty because it is supposed to. This story wasn't about Caine joining the X-Men or an alien invasion happening. It was about Caine and Piotr. Simple as that. Will I write a sequel? Mayhaps, like usual it will all depend on my readers. **

'**Piotr's thoughts'**

'_Caine's thoughts'_

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_**2 weeks later**_

"So Caine, what's happening between you and Piotr now?" Ororo asked as she held a shirt up for Jean to see.

"Yeah, good question. You're glued to each other's sides, holding hands, kissing. Are you dating now or is it just really friendly sex?" Jean piped up from where she was looking at pants.

"Piotr is currently singing really loudly in his mind." Caine said from inside the changing room "He's trying to plan a date without me finding out but it's hard when you can't block each other out."

Jean snorted "Tell me about it, when I was dating Scott he would loudly think about our date then get disappointed when I wasn't surprised." She said.

Caine laughed. Jean's break up with Scott was going down in the X-Men book of legends. On the first day that Caine and Piotr left the bedroom they had walked in on Scott and Jean screaming at each other in the kitchen.

He didn't know what started the argument but he was glad it had happened. Jean was so much happier without Scott trying to bring her down anymore. A side effect of the break up was now with Jean accepting her role in the Battle of Alcatraz and as such without the Phoenix to mess her up her powers were developing more and more control.

"So what? You are dating then?" Ororo pressed him.

"Yeah, I think we are. We haven't actually discussed it. It went from avoiding each other to sex. And the Professor was right, it seems like Love. We don't need to discuss it so we don't. We are simply an us." He explained slowly.

Finally he stepped from the changing room and stood in front of the mirror.

The girls whistled at the sight of him in skinny jeans and a tight shirt, the three of them had clicked and were now very close friends, which helped a lot with Caine being a teaching assistant for both the Science's they taught.

"I think Piotr will like that look a lot" Ororo said slowly "I know I am." She joked.

Caine's head tilted to the side slightly. "Piotr definitely likes this look" he laughed causing the other two laugh as well.

Caine had already become well known at the Institute for stopping in the middle of something and telling Piotr off for doing something in the middle of class when he was facing the other way, of course this went two ways as Piotr's science grades when up quickly.

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_**2 Months Later**_

"No." Caine said simply, Piotr nodding alongside him.

"I agree, I don't like fighting either." Piotr said softly.

"Oh come on boys, if you are worried about breaking a nail then we can get you stronger gloves." Logan teased them.

The two men glared at him.

"I have no problem with being put on the emergency list, but I don't want to fight as often as you guys do." Piotr argued.

"We don't want to fight Piotr, but we have to." Ororo begged him.

"Piotr is right, I will only get involved when I need to, and I don't want to fight. Sure I'm good at it, but it just doesn't mean I enjoy it. After all Jean is capable of killing everyone in the building, but she won't. It's the same principal, I could kill you all but that doesn't mean I want to." Caine said coldly.

Jean sighed. "You guys, they are right. We should be happy that they are willing to do that much. We wouldn't force you to fight if you didn't want to." She pointed out.

Piotr gave her a grateful smile.

"If there is a mission where our powers would be needed or at least make things a lot easier then I will help, but other than that I'm a teacher. Teaching _is_ what I enjoy, and teaching is what I plan to do." Caine said.

Shortly after they started dating their powers began to mutate again, much to everyone's bafflement.

When the mutations finally ended Piotr's powers were the same as Caine's.

Piotr was capable of changing his form like Caine was, but Caine had lost the ability to change his metal type. They were now a single liquid metal.

Caine's rippling had also stopped, and now he was either human form or metal form.

They had even stopped sleeping for some reason.

Unfortunately this made them both a lot more powerful and they became fast favourites for X-Men missions.

They weren't taking this lying down though, they wanted to simply live.

Caine teaching at the Institute and Piotr continuing his studies and painting.

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_**2 years later**_

"I don't see why not!" Ororo declared.

After Professor Xavier had passed away in his sleep his will had decided that Ororo was to take his place as the leader of the Institute.

Jean became the Leader of the X-Men after Scott left the Institute shortly after the Professor died.

"Because I'm already teaching Biology and Physics" Caine argued.

"Teaching Chemistry wouldn't be too much then" Jean pointed out "It's not like you sleep anymore."

Caine's eyebrow raised "Correct, but I would like to spend time with my fiancé." He explained.

Ororo and Jean froze, then they both started squealing.

"Fiancé? Since when?" Ororo exclaimed.

"And how did he ask you" Jean demanded.

Caine rolled his eyes. "He asked me last week." He admitted.

"When you went to Shadowcats?" Ororo asked.

Caine nodded. After Kitty had graduated she opened a small restaurant in North Salem, and gave the Institute students and teachers a huge discount. It had been a huge hit within the community.

They squealed again, before leaping from their chairs and giving Caine a huge hug.

"You have to let us help plan it!" Jean demanded.

Caine smirked at them "Piotr and I weren't aware we had a choice in that matter." He said.

"Damn straight!" Ororo declared before pausing adding in "Well not straight, but you know what I mean."

Caine rolled his eyes again.

'**I assume the squealing was them finding out the good news?'** Piotr's voice came across their bond.

'_Yeah, and you were right, they demanded to plan it'_ He replied.

'**Naturally. Are you going to tell them that we eloped?'** came the question.

'_And have them castrate me? Yeah right'_ Caine mentally snorted.

He looked at the girls.

Ororo was looking confused while Jean was glaring at him.

"You eloped?" Jean said dangerously.

And now Ororo was glaring at him.

"With the amount of bad luck we had we wanted to be married even if aliens interrupted our wedding or something." Caine stuttered slowly backing towards the door.

Thunder crashed in the sky above them.

'**I forgot that Jean was a telepath, I suggest you run'** Piotr's voice said.

"Did I mention it was Piotr's idea?" Caine offered weakly.

'**Traitor! At least I'm still in New York'** Piotr said smugly.

'_The Blackbird'_ Caine pointed out as he sprinted out the door.

'**Well crap'**


End file.
